


To Deal With Death

by Morgana



Category: Supernatural
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-23
Updated: 2013-05-23
Packaged: 2017-12-12 06:31:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/808387
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morgana/pseuds/Morgana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Castiel doesn't approve of Dean's plan to sit down with Death</p>
            </blockquote>





	To Deal With Death

"A deal," Castiel said. "With Death."  
  
Dean nodded. "That's the plan, anyway."  
  
Castiel frowned, but didn't say anything right away. Still, he clearly wasn't happy with the idea, so Dean asked, "You with me on this, Cas?"  
  
No reply.  
  
Dean licked his lips and leaned forward. "Look, Cas, I know it's a little - well, call it unorthodox, but this is the best shot we've got. We get that last ring and we can finally put Lucifer's ass in his cell where it -"  
  
"No."  
  
The single word in Castiel's gravelly voice stopped Dean cold, and he blinked at the angel. "What was that?"  
  
"No, I am not 'with you' in this matter." Castiel stared at him, the same icy stare that he'd given him from the doorway of the panic room, and the protests Dean had intended to offer vanished before he could even open his mouth. "This is  _Death_ , Dean. You cannot bargain with the Great Equalizer."  
  
"Why not?" Dean reached out to snag the last egg roll, taking a bite of half of it before he continued, "Even Death's gotta have something to bargain with, doesn't he?"  
  
"Yes," Castiel stated flatly. "Your life."  
  
"Besides that."  
  
The angel shook his head. "You lack the comprehension of what you are dealing with. This is not one of the usual creatures that you hunt, nor is it a demon or angel. Death has no agenda, acknowledges no side in our war. He is inviolate, and he will crush you as though you were a fly, and feel as little regard for your death as you would feel for the fly's."  
  
Dean snorted. "C'mon, Cas, he can't be that bad. I mean, the guy's basically a supersize Reaper and -"  
  
"And just what do you think Reapers  _are_ , Dean?" Castiel's voice was rising, but thankfully they were alone in the restaurant, save for the waitress and cook.  
  
When the waitress lifted her head to look at them, Dean flashed her an appeasing smile and muttered, "How about keepin' your voice down, there, Cas? Reapers and Death aren't exactly normal table conversation, here." Hopefully the waitress didn't speak enough English to understand them, because if she did, he had no idea how he could explain this one away.  
  
Castiel glared at him, and shoved his chair back, the legs screeching with the sudden movement. He stalked around the table and grabbed Dean's wrist, yanking him up and towing him over to the small shrine in an alcove near the cash register. "Look, Dean. Do you know what this is?"  
  
He gazed at the statue, the placid face with its lips upturned in a smile, and shrugged. "Yeah, it's Buddha. Don't know why he's wearing a baby bib, though."  
  
The waitress had started towards them, but Castiel turned and said something to her in what sounded like Chinese. She replied in a sharp tone, and Castiel walked over to her, laying a hand on her shoulder, then said something else. She stared up at him and asked a question, her voice quavering like she was barely holding back tears. When Castiel nodded, she hugged him, a sob escaping before she turned and ran back to the kitchen.  
  
Dean stared after her. "Okay, that was weird..."  
  
Castiel looked uncomfortable as he turned around to face him. "We should go now."  
  
Before they could make their getaway, the waitress reappeared, dragging the cook along with her. She jabbered up at him and pointed at Castiel, and the man lunged for him. Dean's hand shot behind him, going for his gun until he realized that the man had grabbed Cas' hand and was clinging to it like a lifesaver as he looked up at him with an ecstatic smile. Castiel said something else to them that made them both smile, then carefully extracted his hand from the cook's grip and started for the door. "We need to leave, Dean." When he started to ask why, the angel cut him off. "Now."  
  
Once they were safely in the Impala, headed back to the motel, Dean asked, "You wanna tell me what that was all about back there, Cas?"  
  
"She lost a child."  
  
It took him a minute to connect the dots, and even then, he wasn't sure he really understood. "Is that why she was screaming about us going over to look at the statue?"  
  
Castiel nodded. "That was her shrine to Jizo."  
  
"Gesundheit."  
  
The angel sighed. "Jizo is the statue, Dean. He watches over children who have died before their parents and helps them mitigate the karmic debt they have accrued." Dean wondered if it was his imagination, or if Cas had been spending way too much time around Sammy, because that weary explanation sounded enough like his brother that he almost expected to see him instead of Cas in the passenger seat when he glanced over.  
  
"Okay, so it's a god. What does that have to do with me making a deal with Death?"  
  
"Why do you think such beings exist?" Trust Castiel to answer a question with another question. Sometimes he really was like all the other angels.  
  
"I dunno." The truth of the matter was that Dean had never really cared about why - that was Sam's thing. He'd always been the one asking why there were monsters in the dark, wanting to know what they wanted, as if the simple fact that they existed wasn't enough to justify their extermination. Dean's only concern had been how to kill the fuckers.  
  
"Death is much more than a mere horseman. It is the one constant, the only true thing that humans can ever know, and it cares for nothing. History is full of stories of those who have tried to strike deals with Death, and it never ends well, either for the ones who try to cheat it, or the ones they care about."  
  
Dean frowned. "So what are you saying, I'm gonna end up dead if I try this?"  
  
"Not necessarily you. But what if the price is Sam's life? Or Bobby's? Or the lives of everyone you hold dear to you? Will you pay it then?"  
  
He knew he would if he had to, but he wasn't about to give Cas the satisfaction of hearing him admit it. "You still haven't told me what this has to do with that freaky statue."  
  
"Death takes those humans care about from them, without regard for age or rank or relationship. Humans cannot understand it, so they try to put names and faces on it, creating beings that will shepherd their dead for them. Jizo is one of those. Parents seek solace in him, believing that he will care for their children as they no longer can. But Death doesn't care, and that's the point. You can try to believe that you can talk to him, reason with him, deal with him, but you are only deceiving yourself, just like the parents who lay toys at Jizo's shrines for their dead children."  
  
Dean pulled into the parking spot in front of the door and threw the car in park. Shifting in his seat, he turned around to look at the angel who'd given up Heaven to follow him. "Look, I get it, okay? Death's not something to be trifled with. But unless you wanna see your brother walking around in my skin, this is our best shot, and I'm not about to let it get away without a fight. So you've got two choices - live with it, or go grovel your way back into Heaven, because this? Is happening. And if you try to zap me somewhere else or get in the way, I swear to God I'll take you down, you got that, Cas?"  
  
"Yes." The low word offered no clue about which option the angel would choose.   
  
When he didn't say anything else, Dean shook his head and got out of the car, leaving Castiel sitting in the passenger seat as he headed back into the room. He'd spent the last week arguing with Bobby, Sam, and now Castiel about the coming meeting with Death, and now that it was almost here, he just wanted to kick back with some beer and a halfway decent movie on pay-per-view before he turned in for the night. After all, it was probably going to be his last night alive, so he figured he should be able to spend it the way he wanted.  
  
Castiel didn't show up until he was on his way to bed. Dean emerged from the shower to find the angel sitting on his bed. "Jesus Christ! We need to get you a bell, Cas."  
  
He slowly looked up at him. "If you really mean to do this... this insane thing, then I won't stop you. But I'm not going to let you go face Death alone."  
  
"Fair enough. And hey, good to see you're using contractions again." Dean grinned at him and went to get two more beers. He handed one to Cas, then cracked the other open and took a healthy swig. He flopped down on the bed beside the angel and reached for the remote. "C'mon, let's see if this place has anything decent on pay-per-view."  
  
Castiel gazed down at his beer for a few minutes, then nodded and took a drink. Apparently a meeting with Death was enough to get even an angel rattled enough to want a beer, although he probably wouldn't stick around once the porn got going. He almost never did, and the few times Dean had convinced him to sit still and watch, he'd been visibly uncomfortable. It had been pretty funny, even if having Cas right next to him during  _Hot N Horny 7_  proved to be a bit of a buzz kill. Dean smirked and settled back, keeping one eye on the TV, and one on the angel, wondering how long he'd stick it out before he disappeared.  
  
In the end, however, Castiel didn't vanish, and Dean found out, much to his very pleasant surprise, that his angel was a fast learner - and definitely  _not_  a buzz kill.


End file.
